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Schuyler Colfax
| birth_place =New York City, New York | death_date = (aged 61) | death_place =Mankato, Minnesota | nationality = | party =Republican | otherparty = | spouse =Evelyn Clark Colfax Ellen Maria Wade Colfax | relations = | children =Schuyler Colfax III | residence = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | net worth = | religion = | signature = Schuyler Colfax Jr Signature.svg | website = | footnotes = }} Schuyler Colfax, Jr. ( ; born March 23, 1823 – died January 13, 1885) was a U.S. Representative from Indiana, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the 17th Vice President of the United States. President Ulysses S. Grant and Colfax, 46 and 45 respectively at the time of their inauguration, were the youngest Presidential team until the inauguration of Bill Clinton and Al Gore in 1993. Biography Colfax was born in New York City to Schuyler Colfax, Sr. (d. October 30, 1822, of tuberculosis) and Hannah Stryker. His grandfather, William Colfax, had served in George Washington's Life Guard during the American Revolution, became a general in the New Jersey militia and married Hester Schuyler, a cousin of general Philip Schuyler. In 1836, Colfax moved with his mother and stepfather to New Carlisle, Indiana. As a young man, Colfax contributed articles on Indiana politics to the New York Tribune and formed a friendship with the editor, Horace Greeley. He established a reputation as rising young Whig and at 19 became the editor of the pro-Whig South Bend Free Press. In 1845, Colfax purchased the newspaper and changed its name to the St. Joseph Valley Register. Whig Party delegate Colfax was a delegate to the Whig Party Convention of 1848 and the Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1849. He was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1850. Colfax was nominated for Congress in 1850, but narrowly lost to his Democratic opponent. He ran again two years later, this time successfully, in 1854 as an Anti-Nebraska candidate in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The same year, Colfax was initiated as a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at DePauw University, without ever having attending that (or any) university. Republican party When the Whig Party collapsed, Colfax briefly considered the Know-Nothing Party, but finally joined the new Republican Party that was formed as a fusion of northern Whigs, Anti-Nebraska Act Democrats, Know Nothings, and Free Soilers. After the Republicans gained the majority in the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections of 1858, Colfax became chairman of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads. He was an energetic opponent of slavery and his speech attacking the pro-slavery Lecompton Legislature in Kansas became the most widely requested Republican campaign document in the election. In 1862, following the electoral defeat of House Speaker Galusha Grow, Colfax was elected Speaker of the House. During his term as Speaker, he announced the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. Vice Presidency under Ulysses S. Grant In 1868 Colfax was elected Vice President of the United States on the ticket headed by Ulysses S. Grant. He was inaugurated March 4, 1869, and served until March 4, 1873. Colfax was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination for the vice presidency in 1872 and was replaced by Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson. Colfax had been involved in the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal and left office under a cloud. Personal life On October 10, 1844, Colfax married childhood friend Evelyn Clark. She died childless in 1863. On November 18, 1868, two weeks after he was elected vice president, Colfax married Ella M. Wade, a niece of Senator Benjamin Franklin Wade. They had one son, Schuyler Colfax III, born in 1870. Last years After leaving office, Colfax embarked on a successful career as a lecturer. On January 13, 1885, he walked about three-quarters of a mile in minus 30˚F weather from the Front Street depot to the Omaha depot in Mankato, Minnesota. He had to change trains in Mankato to reach Rock Rapids, Iowa, going from South Bend via Chicago for a speaking engagement.Hollister, 1886. Five minutes after arriving at the depot, Colfax died of a heart attack brought on by the extreme cold and exhaustion."Schuyler Colfax Dead", The New York Times, January 14, 1885, p. 1. He was buried in the City Cemetery at South Bend, Indiana.Political Graveyard A historical marker in Mankato in Washington Park, site of the former depot, marks the spot where he died. Legacy The towns of Colfax, California; Colfax, Washington; Colfax, Indiana; Colfax, Iowa and Colfax, Louisiana, are named for Schuyler Colfax. The "Jewel of the Midwest", Schuyler, Nebraska, named after Colfax, is the county seat of Colfax County, Nebraska. The now ghost town of Colfax, Colorado, was named after him. Colfax County, New Mexico, is named after the Speaker as well. In addition, the "main street" traversing Aurora, Denver and Lakewood, Colorado, and abutting the Colorado State Capitol is named "Colfax Avenue" in the politician's honor. There is another Colfax Avenue in South Bend, Indiana (a few miles east of his New Carlisle home and adjacent to his burial site); Colfax Place in the Highland Square neighborhood in Akron, Ohio, in Grant City, Staten Island; in Minneapolis, Minnesota; in Roselle Park, New Jersey; and a Colfax Avenue on Chicago's Southeast Side. There is a Colfax Street leading up Mt. Colfax in Springdale, Pennsylvania, by the Post Office and train station in Palatine, Illinois and a Colfax Avenue in Benton Harbor, Michigan, where the school fight song contains the phrase "of that Colfax school" because the high school is located on Colfax. There is also a Colfax Sreet in Jamestown, New York. There is also a Colfax Avenue in Concord, California. Colfax, California boasts a bronze statue of Colfax, it stands next to the tracks at the AMTRAK station. There is a Colfax elementary school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a middle school in Wayne, New Jersey. Publications * See also *Dudley-Winthrop Family References External links * Schuyler Colfax's signature on the 1864 joint resolution proposing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery * Find-A-Grave profile for Schuyler Colfax * [http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Schuyler_Colfax.htm United States Senate: Schuyler Colfax, 17th Vice-President] * [http://www.archive.org/details/fremontshundredd00colfrich Fremont's hundred days in Missouri : speech of Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, in reply to Mr. Blair, of Missouri, delivered in the House of Representatives, March 7, 1862 at archive.org] * [http://www.archive.org/details/lifeandpublic00mccarich The life and public services of Schuyler Colfax: together with his most important speeches at archive.org] |- Category:1823 births Category:1885 deaths Category:People from New York City Category:Dudley–Winthrop family Category:Odd Fellows Category:Union political leaders Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Speakers of the United States House of Representatives Category:Republican Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Category:Vice Presidents of the United States Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana Category:Know Nothings Category:Indiana Republicans Category:American activists Category:Indiana Know-Nothings Category:Indiana Whigs Category:Delegates to the 1851 Indiana constitutional convention Category:19th-century vice presidents of the United States az:Şayler Kolfaks cs:Schuyler Colfax da:Schuyler Colfax de:Schuyler Colfax dv:Schuyler Colfax es:Schuyler Colfax fr:Schuyler Colfax id:Schuyler Colfax it:Schuyler Colfax he:שוילר קולפקס ka:შაილერ კოლფაქსი sw:Schuyler Colfax la:Schuyler Colfax nl:Schuyler Colfax ja:スカイラー・コルファクス no:Schuyler Colfax pl:Schuyler Colfax pt:Schuyler Colfax ru:Колфакс, Шайлер simple:Schuyler Colfax fi:Schuyler Colfax sv:Schuyler Colfax war:Schuyler Colfax yo:Schuyler Colfax